This work begins with the structural study of a molecular motor, Ncd, whose mechanism of movement toward the minus-end of microtubules was unknown. The work was done using older, manual EM methods, and upon completion, the author had a new found respect for the value of automated technologies. With this new interest, we began exploring ways to improve automated EM techniques, specifically through the application of methods from the field of Computer Vision. While doing so, we implemented a way to collect tilted data in an automated fashion, which opened the door for some new and interesting possibilities for examining structurally heterogeneous samples. Having done this, and various other improvements, we then returned to the study of biological systems to find one that could make especial use of our newly developed methods. In particular, we found that such a system is visualizing the assembly of 30S E. coli small ribosomal subunits. Our initial characterization and observations have shown that even this dynamic system is now open to study using structural methods.

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